Sweet Anna Rose

This past weekend the McCarty family made the trip down to Alabama to celebrate a very special day for a very special girl. Anna Rose's 3rd Birthday!

On past trips Ruth Ann has been an angel...mostly because she slept for 80% of the drive and when you're traveling for 5 hours this is priceless. This time I would say Ruth Ann was AWAKE 80% of the time. You may be wondering how Ruth Ann spent her awake time in the car...



She read a few books and...



Drank a little juice.

We finally reached our destination and once Anna got home from school I let her open our gifts to her. I realize it was still almost 24 hours before her birthday party, but I knew she would have a ton of gifts at her party and I wanted ours to be a little special. If we had waited until her party, then our gifts would have blended in with the others.







Ruth Ann watched...I hope she was taking notes on proper gift opening techniques for her birthday in a few weeks!



And then she played a little with some of Anna's goodies...



I got Anna a cute little tea set that I have given as a gift to our friend Betsy Brown. It has been a big hit at the Brown's & I always loved my tea set, so I thought it would be perfect for Anna.



After she opened it we had an impromptu tea party...



A little later while Andrea and I were with Ruth Ann in the living room, Anna brought Ruth Ann a full pot of water...want to guess where she got the water??? I'll give you a hint, there are only a few place in the house that a 3 foot tall child would have easy access to...yep, it was from the potty!

Later that night we watched a little TV and Scott kept the girlies contained...



And they enjoyed a little night time drink...



Then it was Saturday...the day of the party! Here are the girls all dressed up and ready to party!







The party was FANTASTIC!!











And why might you ask is this cup blocking the picture...because it's not blocking the view, it's exactly what I was looking to photograph. The Barbecue House is one of my favorite eating establishments in Auburn. Their chipped pork bbq is my fave, Andrea prefers the chicken bbq. Either way, it's delicious and if you're ever in Auburn you should stop by...the sweet tea is great and make sure you get the potato salad...yummy!

Ruth Ann also made some new friends...



This is Andrea's Aunt Terri. She looks just like Andrea because she and all of Andrea's aunts and mom are beautiful blonds and all look very similar!

Then Ruth Ann did a little bouncing in the moon walk...



Someone else joined her in the moon walk...





Not the most lady like position, but still a cute picture of daughter & daddy!

We were lucky enough to have some other friends come and join in the fun at the party...







It's our friend Kate! Her mom & my good friend, Erin, came up to Auburn for the party. In just 4 short weeks Kate is going to be a big sister. The next time we see this sweet girl we'll also get to see her sweet baby sister, Evan...I can hardly wait!



The first thing I think when I see this picture is "WOW, look at the bows on those girls!". I think Erin and I are raising these girls right! Kate is so addicted to a bow that she wants to sleep in hers. I must learn Erin's secret to getting your daughter to fulling accept a bow...Ruth Ann is still yanking hers from her head in defiance!

Then it was time for cake and ice cream...



We didn't let Ruth Ann have any cake, but we can't deny her ice cream...it's her favorite!





Then it was present time...see why I wanted Anna to open her gifts from us the night before...







Here's my favorite gift...it's from some of Andrea's friends at work...





And here's the Webster family in the moon walk...





All this fun wore out my baby girl...



Later that night we took a golf cart ride around the golf course in Andrea's neighborhood.



It was the first time Ruth Ann got to wear her winter jacket...she looked so cute in it!



Sweet Anna Rose, we had so much fun this weekend celebrating your 3rd birthday. I can't believe you're already 3 years old. It feels like I just got to meet you, then I blinked and you're a big girl! I love your sweet smile, your sassy personality and how kind you are to Ruth Ann. You'll always be very special to Aunt Tara and I look forward to spending many more birthdays with you!

Maybe she'll be a runner after all

Let me be frank...I hate running. Several times in my adult years I have made the decision to force myself to love running since runners are almost always beautiful people...and don't we all want to be one of the beautiful people?? Even up until the month before I found out I was pregnant with Ruth Ann I was trying to turn my hatred of the sport into a love. My friend Brantley and I joined a running group with the goal to complete a 5k at the end of the 12 week class. I dropped out 4 weeks in when I found out I was expecting. But Brantley kept up the good work and ran 2 5k races!

Anyway, Arch too doesn't run unless he's being chased (these are his words, not mine) so I've kinda thought it's just not in Ruth Ann's genes to be a runner. But today we went to watch my cousin Seth & his high school cross country team at the state cross country meet.



Seth finished in 11th place for 1A schools and his team won the state 1A title!







So maybe there's hope for Ruth Ann and one day she'll be the runner I've always dreamed of being!

Here is Ruth Ann catching up with my Aunt Jill. She kept laughing with my aunt so it was hard to get a picture of her looking at the camera!

Another big girl first

So I mentioned a few posts ago that I had a big girl event planned for Ruth Ann...

Her first hair cut!

I had hoped to wait until after her first birthday before we would cut these golden locks, but she started to have a baby mullet....yikes! I decided to get the back of her hair shaped up before I have her 1 year old pictures taken so she would not one day question why I permitted her to have a bad hair-do as a infant. Since I had a hair appointment scheduled I thought I would ask Holly to trim Ruth Ann's too. I should have been able to predict how the event would go by the look of terror in Holly's eyes when I very nonchalantly asked her to cut Ruth Ann's hair. She did attempt it, but it was a disaster! Who would have thought...don't all girls of all shapes, sizes & ages love to have their hair cut?? The answer, I have learned, is NO! She recommended I do it myself while she was sleeping. When I recounted the story to my friend Brantley she recommended I give her a Dum-Dum as a means of distraction...success!

Here's the before...



And the after...

How to catch a cat by the tail

How to Catch a Cat by the Tail...by Ruth Ann McCarty

Step One: Use your cutest and most innocent look to slowly sneak up on the kitty of your choosing. I prefer our cat Lacie...she's very fat and therefore much slower than Fluffy. This is very important in my pursuit of my feline friends as I am not walking yet and I'm not as quick on all fours as she is.



Step Two: Distract said kitty with a little sharing. Earn their trust by offering your most priced possession. I love my pacie's so I was pretty sure Lacie would love them too.





Step Three: Once trust is earned very quickly go for the tail.



Step Four: Be careful, I've learned kitty cats DO NOT like for their tails to be pulled. I'm not strong enough to pull Lacie anywhere because as I've already mentioned, she's very fat.



However, I've been known to pull Fluffy off the couch by her tail.



But don't worry, my kitties don't have claws, so I'm safe to play rough with them...thank goodness. And thankfully the kitties still have lots of hiding places to escape to when they get tired of me.

11 months...seriously??

11 months can't really have already gone by? I feel like I was just waddling around with my 8 month pregnant belly. As Ruth Ann's birthday rapidly approaches I find myself missing the baby that is slowly fading away. For sometime she has not let me craddle her like a baby...unless she is on the verge of sleep or if I've picked her up while she is sleeping. But now to rub salt in a wide open wound...we dropped her crib to it's lowest setting over the weekend.



Just looking at it makes me want to cry because I remember looking at the same empty crib waiting on her arrival.

On a happier note, here are some of the things Ruth Ann is up too at 11 months...
~consistently referring to Arch as "Dada" and less consistently referring to me as "Mama"...it pains me to say this, but it's true. I think it's because I'm the one constantly talking to her and I don't talk about myself all the time! The other words she can say are "baby", "nini" (for night-night) & "n" (for no). In addition she does A LOT of babbling...one day she is going to have a lot to tell us! Her receptive language is great too...she understands a few simple commands. For example, when told to "Go get___." (fill in the blank with juice, daddy or kitty), she goes straight to the object (or person). She also understands "Come here", "Hello" & "Goodbye" (responds by waving).
~pulls up on everything. At first she was literally pulling herself up so she had to have something to hold onto, but now she can pull up next to the glass doors, so she's now "pushing" herself up. She has let go a few times but falls to the ground pretty quickly.
~she's as happy as ever. I'm often told by strangers what a happy girl she is...my response "She has nothing to be unhappy about!"

I'm planning her first birthday and starting to feel like I should have started sooner. We're just having friends and family over for burgers, hotdogs and cake...so I realize I don't need to stress too much...but attention to details always raises my stress level! Here's hoping I'll be cool and calm for the next 4 weeks!

My little tag along

Ruth Ann is a great little tag along. She and I spend a lot of time together and sometimes the running around I have to do coincides with nap time...but Ruth Ann makes the best out of a bad situation.

Trick or Treat!

Ruth Ann & I did a little trick or treating with our friends Jay & Betsy Brown.







The Browns live in a great area for trick or treating...homes are close together and close to the street...you can canvas a lot more homes that way!

At the first house we went to they let Ruth Ann pick her treat...



Her pick, a Mr. Goodbar...that's my girl!



Then a few houses down I took Ruth Ann to the door and the neighbor said to me "Oh, this must be for you." That's when I stopped taking her to the door and we watched Jay and Betsy from the road. Therefore, this was all Ruth Ann ended up taking home...


Next year I'm sure we'll do much better!



Then we went back to the Brown's house, changed into some comfy clothes and watched a really terrible football game...not my Auburn Tigers, we beat Ole Miss earlier in the day. Oh well, at least we were in good company! I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

Happy Birthday James

Saturday we celebrated our friend James' 3rd Birthday. Since his birthday is on Halloween his birthday was a costume party. Ruth Ann was a bumble bee this year. I had plans of the whole family dressing up...I was going to be the flower, Ruth Ann could be the bumble bee, Spencer would be a farmer and Arch could be a thorn! Time slipped away from me and I ended up only dressing Ruth Ann up...oh well, it was a good thought.





Here are some of our other friends and their costumes...


Roper was a cute little gold fish.


Roper's big brother, Mason, was a fisherman with a cute added touch of gummy bait on his vest. He also had a "bait" container to share with all his friends, but I saw a few parents dipping into the bait jar too!


Besty was a sweet little gray mouse.


Betsy's big brother, Jay, was a Red Sox baseball player.


And Christopher was Chewbacca.

James, the birthday boy, and his brother were matching Spider Men & their parents were Dorothy and Scarecrow...but I didn't get a family picture since they were all doing a lot of running around to keep the party going.

And a group shot...



I wish I had taken a picture of all the parents trying to get pictures of this crew. I'm amazed any of them are smiling because there was a massive group of adults with cameras all pointed in their direction!

Happy Birthday James! We all had a fun time and it was a great way to get our Halloween started!

I love being a girl

Not only do I love being a girl...I love having a baby girl. I just wish this baby girl looked a little more like me! I'm fully aware Ruth Ann looks just like her daddy and brother... but now complete strangers are pointing this out to me. Last week Ruth Ann and I went to the tennis courts to watch Arch. The wife of one of the men playing against him turned and pointed to Arch and asked if he was my husband. I told her he was to which she responded by telling me that my daughter looked just like him...from 20 feet she could tell they were daddy & daughter...it's really not fair! However, when she looks this cute I really don't care which one of us she looks like!



I got this dress last year from Donna Salais who set Arch & I up on a blind date many years ago. I've looked at this dress hanging in her closet for months. We don't go places often enough that require we get dressed up so on Friday I decided to dress Ruth Ann up for our monthly supper club. She was super cute, but the long dress realy slowed her down when she tried to crawl anywhere!